Rutgers set for next challenge at Mountaineer Invitational

The Rutgers men’s golf team heads to Bridgeport, West Virginia on Sunday for its third tournament of the fall. Formerly known as the Mountaineer Intercollegiate, West Virginia University has paired with The Health Plan for the first annual Health Plan Mountaineer Invitational. The Scarlet Knights will look to keep their momentum rolling as they enter the Invitational.

Besides the name, the tournament will remain the same as it has been since its inaugural year in 2015, featuring a 54hole, three-round, team strokeplay event taking place at Pete Dye Golf Club. This will be Rutgers' first-ever trip to Bridgeport, as it looks to build on the team's strong performance last time out at the Janney Invitational. As a team, the Knights finished seventh out of the 12-team field with a score of 4-under-par, a very encouraging sign after finishing 12th the previous week in Madison at the Badger Invitational.

Rutgers aims to continue this upward trend the rest of the fall season, although for one Knight in particular, his last performance might be tough to top. Freshman Oliver Whatley, who earned his first individual title in just his second ever collegiate tournament at the Janney Invitational, is going into Bridgeport with the status of a bona fide stud.

Whatley shot a 206, good enough for 10-under-par, as he dominated the course. As if sitting atop the leaderboard wasn’t enough, Whatley also finished as the leading par four scorer at 7-under-par, tied for second with 13 birdies, and tied for first with his lone eagle in the third round which was huge in helping him secure his victory.

Between Whatley and senior captain Toks Pedro, who has two top-10 finishes already this fall, the Rutgers starting five in Bridgeport is sure to have some star power. Except to see both Pedro and Whatley lead Rutgers to another impressive finish this weekend.

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